Divorced veteran seeks help
getting full retirement benefits back

September 10, 2013

Dear Sgt. Shaft:

I have spent more than $12,000 on
private attorneys trying to fix what was done to me during my divorce
when I was not represented. After spending all that monthly income,
which I was able to re-save with my new wife, I cannot afford to pay for
more lawyers, as I am now a 100 percent disabled wounded warrior with
PTSD.

I applied for and was granted my
VA disability money five years after my divorce. My divorce was final in
2006. Here are a few facts to provide background so that you might be
able to better answer my three questions.

1. I retired after more than 20
plus years of military service. I am from the Pacific Northwest. My
ex-wife is from Texas. Upon retirement, my family and I moved to Texas.
Our marriage was a challenging one. I promised to “death do us
part.” I wanted to return to the Northwest for family reasons. My
job had an opening there. We agreed I would transfer there, start
working and that the family would follow. This is relevant as I took
nothing but my clothes with me planning that my wife, I will call Daisy,
would soon follow me with the children, a moving van with all of our
stuff, and savings and the money from the sale of our home.

2. The day after I began driving
north, Daisy moved her lawyer boyfriend into my room and bed. My
daughter called me very upset. When I spoke to Daisy on the phone, I was
already out of state and working. She said she had “changed her
mind and wanted a divorce.” Daisy had taken all our savings, so I
only had my week-to-week pay from my job to live on and to try to build
a new life. Daisy said she would pay for an attorney. In retrospect, I
was so depressed and traumatized, I barely had the will to live let
alone to fight her on anything else.

3. She took everything. She took
our home (although my name is still on the mortgage with the bank and I
cannot get it off, as she refuses to refinance). She has ruined my
credit, and I have spent the $12,000 trying to get my name off the bank
loan since the court gave her the
house as property. None of the four attorneys from Texas I hired can or
could help me.

4. She wrote the divorce petition
herself, as she worked with attorneys. She gave herself half of my
military retirement, none of the house, half of the debt and no
assets.

5. She has a drug problem and
mental illness documented by police reports and hospital holds. She
completed at least two previous addiction-treatment programs and is now
ordered to do another before she can return to work.

So here are my questions:

1) Since I did not give C-4
approval for the court to give her
my retirement, was it legal for her to take half. I tried to fight this,
but I had no money for an attorney and lived out of state.

2) Since I am 100 percent military
disabled for the last two years, is there any way I can get someone to
help me get my full retirement back. I did not agree with her taking it,
or the authority of the court to split it
up and give it to her?

3.) Due to my disability, does
this make me eligible for special services where I could get help from
military counsel to get my name off her mortgage before she goes to
prison and forces that house to go into default.

My current wife is writing this
for me as this matter gets me so triggered, I end up dissociated to
where I get too stressed to think or type and then have nightmares after
I even try to deal with it. Can you help?

A vetVia the Internet

Dear vet:

You have complicated legal issues
that require legal assistance and court actions.

Legally, military retired pay is
considered property of the marriage and available for division between
the couple. The divorce court determines the amount each member gets
based on the situation. The
court can award the ex-spouse any amount of retired pay it
deems valid: from 0 percent to 100 percent of retired pay.

Once the court determines the division of retired
pay, the government is allowed by law to make a direct payment to the
ex-spouse for up to 50 percent of the retired pay amount as long as the
marriage and the military service time overlapped by at least 10
years.

If the court awards the ex-spouse more than 50
percent of retired pay, the military retiree must make payment to the
ex-spouse for the amount over 50 percent of retired pay.

You need to find legal help. Check
with the VA for a referral. Ask your local or county government services
office for a referral. Search the Web for veteran’s legal
assistance in your state. Ask a nearby military base’s legal
office for ideas. Get with a local veteran service office like the
American Legion, VFW or Disabled American Veterans to ask about legal
services in the local area.

The event “Mental Health:
Linking Warriors and Their Families, Government and Society” is
scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and co-hosted by the Military
Officers Association of America (MOAA) and the National Defense
Industrial Association (NDIA). USAA is the executive sponsor of the
event.